Yummy Spinach Salad

Spinach Salad:

1/2 bunch spinach
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1/2 red onion sliced in rings (optional)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 can mandarin oranges- drained
1/4 lb. bacon cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup sugared almonds (see recipe)
1/4 cup shredded cheese (or feta, which is wonderful on this!)

Mix lettuce, spinach, and mushrooms together. Sprinkle bacon, oranges and almonds on top. Top with red onions. Serve with poppy seed dressing (see recipe).


Sugared Almonds:

1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 1/2 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. melted butter

Blend Sugar and butter well. Coat almonds and spread them on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Stir after 7 minutes. When lightly browned, remove from oven. Loosen nuts with a metal spatula and let them cool completely.


Poppy Seed Dressing:

1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbl. onion pureed
1 Tbl. mustard
1 cup vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients except the oil together until the sugar is dissolved. While beating on high speed, drop 2-3 drops of oil into the mixture. Then gradually add remaining oil in a thin stream to complete emulsification.

We had some friends over the other day who brought this and I loved it so much that I just had to get the recipe and share it! Thanks Leslie!!!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine asparagus, chopped onion, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer uncovered until asparagus is tender, about 12 minutes. Process the mixture in a blender to puree the vegetables. Set aside.
2. In the same saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Whisk in the remaining chicken broth, and increase the heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Stir in the asparagus puree and the milk.
3. Put the sour cream in a small bowl, and stir in a ladleful of the hot soup. Add the sour cream mixture and the lemon juice to the soup. Stir while heating the soup to serving temperature, but don't allow it to boil. Serve immediately.

I made this because Shawn and I used to love the cream of asparagus soup that they served at the BYU art museum- we went there every week as freshman and loved the soup! It has been so long since then that I am not sure how close this is to it, but we both thought it was wonderful, and definitely will be making it again!

Naan

This is a traditional Indian Bread that you eat with Indian Food:

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a THIN circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Pumpkin Pancakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Someone who was working at Curves mentioned to me this morning that for Halloween she was going to go home and do pumpkin pancakes for her family, so I thought I would give it a try. I think they turned out pretty good and it was fun to do it for the holiday!

Gluten-Free

Anyone have any gluten-free recipes to share? I know I can look some up but I wanted to see if anyone had any they already use and enjoy. Desserts especially!

Tiffany's Home made Bread

2 1/2 c warm water
2 heaping T yeast

Mix and sprinkle with sugar and let it get foamy.

Add:
1/3 c gluten
3 1/2 c flour

Mix for 1 minute. Cover and let rise for 10 minutes.

Add:
2 T lemon juice
1/3 c oil
1/3 c honey
1 T salt
2-3 c of flour (add it bits at a time until it is no longer sticky and forms a ball in the mixer)

Knead in machine or by hand for 15-20 minutes.
Let rise until doubled.
Roll out and shape for bread pans.
Put in oven and set to 350 for ONE MINUTE ONLY.
Turn off oven and leave loaves to rise in oven for 20-25 minutes or until the dough has risen to the top of the pans.
Leave bread in oven (don't open the door) and turn oven back on to 350 and time for 35 minutes; or until nice, beautiful brown.
wheat= 3 loaves
white =4 loaves

Personal note: I have been looking for years for a good home made bread recipe that I could also cut and use for sandwiches (it seems like so many of them crumble up and don't make good sandwich bread)- this one is delicious and makes great sandwich bread!!!

Breakfast "Coffee" Cake

2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter
1 egg/milk (see directions)
1 1/2 t vanilla
preheat oven to 350. In a 9 x 13 pan combine all ingredients except the egg and milk. Crack the egg into a 1 C cup and then fill up to the 1 c line with milk. Mix into batter- sprinkle strudel on top:
Strudel:
1/4 c flour
2/3 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c butter
combine all- cut in the butter

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes

Conference weekend Breakfast Casserole

cooked breakfast sausage
bread
cheddar cheese
eggs
heavy cream

It depends on how much you want to make; for a 9x 13 casserole dish I do a package of sausage links and cook them and then cut them up into 1/2 in thick chunks. Then spread half of them out in the pan. Then take two peices of bread and tear up into small pieces and spread throughout the pan. Then grate some cheddar cheese (it depends on how cheesey you want it, but a good layer over all is nice). Then spread out the rest of the sausage. Mix about a dozen eggs with about a half cup of the heavy cream- mix pretty well, make sure that all of the yolks are broken, but don't over mix- I personally like it when there are some white and yellow parts to it. Pour over the other ingredients- should barely cover them; if it doesn't, just do more eggs and cream...
Bake at 350 for an hour or so until it isn't jiggly anymore. We love this; fattening; but we love it!!!

The Easiest to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

1 box Spice cake mix
1 small can of pumpkin (or half a huge one, which was all I could find at the store)
1 bag of chocolate chips

mix all together- bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, until they seem done. So easy!!!

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs well beaten
1 c cooking oil
2 c sugar
2 c peeled and grated zucchini (raw)
1 T vanilla
3 c flour
1 t soda
1 T cinnamon
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 c nuts (optional)

Combine eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla- mix well.
Sift dry ingredients together. Add to mixture and blend well.
Stir in chopped nuts.
Grease and flour 2 5x9x4 loaf pans and pour batter in.
cook at 350 for one hour.
This is the best Zucchini bread I have ever had!!!

Fondant and Buttercream Icing

Fondant

16 oz white mini marshmallows (jet puffed is best brand)
2-5 T water
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 c Crisco shortening

Melt marshnmallows and 2 T water in microwave for 30 seconds- stir and repeat until melted (only takes doing it twice). Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on top of the melted marshmallows and stir for a little bit. Grease hands and countertop generously- dump bowl of sugar and marshmallows. Knead; adding more sugar as needed- keep it from getting stick on your hands by re-greasing your hands and the countertop as needed. If it tears, add bits of water 1/2 T at a time and knead it in. It takes about 8-10 mintues of kneading- your forearms will be sore later!!! Make it form a smooth elastic ball that will stretch without tearing. Let it sit double wrapped overnight in the fridge- we wrap it in saran wrap and put it in a ziplock bag. The woman who had the site we got this recipe from said to add the food coloring the next day when you are going to roll and work it, but we like adding it before we store it, the color holds fine, the taste is fine (if you love super sugar) and it makes it easier to add in some more powered sugar to make up for the extra moisture you are adding to it if you do it while you still have that powered sugar out.
When decorating- first put on 1/4 in thick of butter cream icing. Then roll out on counter top- put down cornstarch to prevent sticking- let it often a bit by working it or put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds and knead it in crisco. You want to roll it to about 1/8 inch thick and have lots of fun!!!


Buttercream Icing

2 sitcks butter
2 C crisco
1/2 t salt
1 t butter flavoring (I haven't found this yet, so it is optional)
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
2 lb powdered sugar
1 T merengue powder (also never found it and also optional)

Mix butter, shortning, and salt for 5 min on low
Add almond flavor, butter, and vanilla extracts and mix together well
Add 1 lb of sugar and merengue powder
Add 1/2 c sugar at a time until the right consistency
Add a little milk, if it is necessary to thin the frosting.
use immediately or cover and refridgerate.

French Fries

* 1/3 cup white sugar
* 2 cups warm water
* 2 large russet potatoes - peeled, and sliced into 1/4 inch strips
* 6 cups vegetable oil for frying
* salt to taste
1. In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water. Soak potatoes in water mixture for 15 minutes. Remove from water, and dry thoroughly on paper towels.
2. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Add potatoes, and cook until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. drain on paper towels. Season with salt to taste.